You know, our website has always been a source of immense pride for me. Every word, page, article and piece of information has been created with love, thought and of course always keeping in mind that it should be easy for our clients to use.

Like this:

It was Friday afternoon and all through the office not a phone was a ringing, when out of the blue, we got a call from Tilly. She needed help, she needed it fast, she was going away for the weekend and her 6 month old baby had no carer in hand, so we sorted her out, very quickly indeed. Tilly had her au pair at 8am the next day for the entire weekend.

In return she made my day by sending me this little note, I just had to share;

Thank you so much for Sthembiso. She was great!!!!!!! Our baby also loves her to bits

Regards,

Tilly Gasela

It was only a pleasure to assist you, its what I live for each day. Thank you for using our services and look forward to assisting again!

As a follow up to one of our recent posts , ” Mom, make up, a freeway and no seatbelt.“, I thought it would be a good idea to load up this video I took yesterday at our First Aid course, which we host for both our candidates and the public on a regular basis. Michelle van der Merwe, popped in to give a 15 minute chat child safety around vehicles.

The facts are scary. 84% of children in South Africa do not wear a seat belt. If you are in an accident driving at 50 km’s per hour it is equivalent to throwing your child off a second storey building ( that’s when you are in an accident with a stationary object) or having 30 adults stand on top of him or her. It is our responsibility to ensure that we reduce 80% of the fatalities in children involved in vehicle accidents in South Africa. Child fatality in accidents is currently the 4th leading cause of death in the country. All it takes is a few seconds, and yet 84 % are currently not strapping their children up! Wake up South Africa, 80% of these deaths are preventable. Vodpod videos no longer available.

Like this:

Recently I made a little discovery that you will be very interested to hear about. Firefly’s… What is a firefly? Well, you know that sinking feeling you get about buying your child a cell phone? Worried about the usage and whether it’s going to be a good idea? I certainly have been! I have been considering getting my 8 year old daughter a phone for emergency use but at such a young age I was worried about her abusing the phone and not understanding that calling your friends mom to organize play dates without asking me first is a no, no. The Firefly is set to change all of that for me, and it could for you too!

The Firefly phone - The Peace of mind Cellphone

For only R575.95 you can now stay in contact with your child 24/7! Its a 5 button phone, and you works purely on a speed dial basis. You can load mom and dads number, emergency numbers and anyone elses number that you think is important. It has a password protected phone book with storage for up to 20 numbers and you can even programme it to reject calls from numbers not in the phone book. No fancy cameras, MP3 player or video. They come in a range of fantastic funky colours and the entire phone lights up when a call comes through, talk about cool and safe!

Check out the firefly by clicking here or you could purchase one right now by clicking here and purchasing online, with 24 hour delivery its so convenient.

Like this:

I just received an email from Petra Vonk. They have launched their new website and I was so impressed I had to let everyone know about it! If you are looking for something fresh, an environment that inspires your staff and gets your office on a permanent creative buzz, look no further. Petra Vonk , based in Cape Town, specialises in creating the most inspiring and creative working environments I have seen in a while. They do interior design, graphic design, creative and strategic development ( from concept to campaign launch) and project management.

Today I received the below email from one of our candidates, Lucinda ( Laeeqah), listed with us for a few years now and also running infant training workshops for domestics, we are certainly honoured to have her working with our clientèle.

If you stay in Cape Town and have unused or old toys lying around one of these 3 ladies will come and collect them at your home if you like, to donate to The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children in Cape Town. They are also now asking for toiletries as well, just basic essentials we do not even think about, but which, these children do not even have regular access. Please donate to this cause. Contact details are at the bottom of this article. Your donation will not go unappreciated or unused and there will be a child whose world lights up due to your kindness.

Gift of Giving

Hi there.

It is that time of the year again. Janine, Sara and myself have decided, for the 3rd consecutive year, to collect toys and books for the destitute children. The previous 2 years has been such a success because of your contributions.

In the past I have wrapped and delivered Bags of new and 2nd hand toys and books. I label each xmas present, stating which age group and gender the toy is appropriate for .

The Children centre is extremely grateful for all the gifts they receive. They fully rely on donations from the public to keep up the wonderful work that they are doing. Our aim is to bring a little joy to the destitute children at xmas time.

Toys include:

Dolls Trucks, cars

Story books Educational books

Any toys your children have outgrown. Puzzles

I also collect the unused toys and clothes and deliver them to the orphange throughout the year. A Big Thank You to those who donate their unused goods to the poor regularly.
This year we have decided to add toiletries to our mission as the orphanges is in dire need of these. If each one will contribute just one or two things it will be very much appreciated. Every time you go shopping just add a bar of soap or toothpaste to your shopping and by the end of november, with all your contributions, we will be able to give them a box of toiletries which could last them a few months.

Toiletries include:

Toothpaste (kids or adult) Toothbrush (kids or Adult)

Underarm Deodrant

Aqueous Cream Soap

Face cloths Nappies (Towelling or Disposables)

This year we will be delivering the xmas presents and toiletries to Saartjie Bartman Centre for Women and Children. They have also mentioned that during the holiday season, it is a very bad time of year for them, as many kids get admitted into their care, who have been abused. Therefore it is important to bring a little cheer in their hearts with a little xmas gift.

Today I have to admit I have been feeling a little under the weather. Both my daughter and I have been at home, sick , and of course hubby isn’t feeling a thing, yet. I think I pulled through the day in fine form though.First there was coaxing my daughter to stay in bed, which was difficult but we survived with a few books, some drawing and more coaxing. Work was another story altogether… and I feel its my duty to tell you why, even though my head was throbbing and my temperature a little above normal, it was a great day!

What made it such a great day? Well normally its happy clients and candidates that make my work rewarding but let me bring your attention for a moment, and my praise, to a company that worked wonders with a smile for one of our clients this morning. About 2 days ago the client contacted me and told me she would be flying to Cape Town and would require a babysitter over the weekend. We sorted out for her booking for her quite quickly and then early this morning, she called. She had just landed at the airport and had to hire a vehicle but then she had a bit of a shock. She realised she did not have a car seat for her 14 month old son.

Frankly, I’m a little surprised to find that vehicle rental companies do not have car seats available for rent, apparently they don’t ( I know shocker right!). She called to ask me to find out if perhaps I knew of a place she could hire one from. Right off the bat I knew who to call…. Babylite , I found them a while ago and they are listed on our “Mom’s Link Directory”. They hire out a massive array of child related products including prams, car seats, baby monitors, toys , walkers, chairs, safety gates and more. Better yet is that they are everywhere from Cape Town, to Johannesburg, to Plett, to George, Durban and a long list of others.

To take some pressure off the client though, I called on her behalf. I got through to Shawn from their northern suburbs branch. Now just so that you can understand the magnitude here, the client is staying in town centre which is quite a distance in Friday traffic from the northern suburbs ( at least an hour and a half, both ways). I asked Shawn to give her a call and assist. Shawn called her right away, took her requirements down and Babylite then delivered the car seat to her at her guest house. A little while later she called me to say thank you. What superb service! Shawn and Babylite, on behalf of our client and myself, a big thank you! You and your company really made my day!

Recently my daughter and I have been on a bit of a Roald Dahl binge. It started with ‘The Giraffe, The Pelly and Me’ and slowly we have worked our way through a large array of them with more to come shortly:

Since my daughter was very little (in fact from the time she was born) I have been reading to her. Its amazing how reading to your child at such a young age, even is he or she does not understand the wording at the time, extends their vocabulary at a rapid rate. I will never forget the day she came to me and said her first proper full sentence, it was “Mommy, the flower is beautiful” she was just over a year old at the time and it was one of the proudest moments of my life and it just keeps getting better. Why just yesterday, my daughter’s teacher came to me and remarked on her fantastic behaviour in the middle of the mayhem that transpired (I don’t have the exact details on this but it sounded pretty raucous). She got up, removed herself from the situation, quietly sat down and read a book until things calmed down with the other kids. I don’t know if I have mentioned it, but we don’t have DSTV or even normal free stations on our TV set. In fact the last time I watched TV was in March of this year. So we keep a large array of movies instead. Perhaps that is helping the interest in books along?

Besides Roald Dahl though, we have managed to sneak in a few lovely illustrated books which my daughter truly loves including:

Winnie the Witch who goes on the most absurd adventures and has the two of us shouting abracadabra every time we turn the page.

My Granny was a frightful bore( but she isn’t anymore) , one of my all time favorite story books, on finding this book in my local exclusive books I felt a sense of nostalgia creep over me, and it was as if my heart jumped. An absolute classic and a must have! If one day I am able to do even one of the things this granny gets up to at age 82, it would be amazing. The book has a bit of a rhyme to it and is a lot of fun to read together.

The Gruffalo’s Child , every bit as good as the Gruffalo itself, ‘The Gruffalo’s Child’ takes you on a journey through sights and sounds and descriptive words that your child will pick up easily due its rhythm and easy to read style of writing.

Now that she is getting older, and to encourage her to read on her own more, another little idea that recently spawned in my head was to buy her several colourful and illustrated encyclopaedia’s. Every evening now instead of her catching half a movie, I ask her to find out about something new, yesterday it was about Inca’s and today’s topic was Ancient Egyptians, she does this while I make supper and then we discuss it at dinner. It then becomes a family discussion and the resulting conversation brings us closer together as well.

A love and passion for reading and literature is a wonderful gift to give your child and something alot of kids are missing out on to easily these days due to being exposed to, too much electronic media, too young.

We are always looking for new books to read though, so my question is, what are you reading to your kids at the moment? What are theirs, and your, favorite children’s books and why? Sharing is caring after all, so please leave a comment for us to share with other mom’s ( and me too).

Both these atrocities can be found rife in South Africa ( with almost 60% of relationships involving some sort of spousal abuse (and that’s the reported stuff), to say that its okay when it isn’t, to ignore this worldwide issue, which spans across all races, religions and classes is to ensure another generation where the issue continues.

Like this:

With Holidays just finished and the next ones around the corner, I have to tell you about a little known secret website full of fantastic colouring in, math, language and other projects and worksheets that you can download for free.

Over the last few days, my daughter has occassionally been sitting in my office with me, some of you may have even been privy to her superb telephone manner ( I may, be being, a little generous here) as she answered the phone ignoring my pleas not to do so. However when she was there, in order to feel like part of the office ( my office is work from home) I kept her busy with tonnes of worksheets from this website:

I really like the way they have separated the subject matter into what is appropriate for which age group and grade! It really does make searching easier. It even has a bit of a lesson planning tool! Check it out! If you find any similar sites please let us know so we can share with all our other readers! Have fun.

Like this:

I seem to have induced an insatiable need to write tonight and perhaps a little self induced insomnia? You have probably noticed, I have been a little quiet lately.

This tends to happen in Winter for just about every year, as far back as I can remember. We are just so busy, even though its been quiet season there have been a thousand things going on and every little job we do, requires the same top treatment and energy from me and the team to be placed, whether its simply a babysitting booking or an au pair placement, from an hours work to 30 or more per job, what to do? What to do! I am always amazed what sitting behind a computer screen does to me when its cold and raining! I just cant, and don’t want to move. I tend to get lethargic about exercising ( when you work behind a PC screen all day this can happen to easily) and my diet goes on a binge for all things scrumptious. From red wine and pasta dishes to really anything that’s loaded with carbs.

Now that Spring is finally in the air though, and I am waking up early again without needing 3 alarms and a cup of coffee. To top it off, today we also started our annual detox. That means; no wheat, no red meat, no refined sugars, no alcohol and worst of all no dairy ( okay, I always end up cheating a little when it comes to dairy, but at least I try) for the next 10 to 14 days. I know it will be worth it though ( hopefully so will the sudden need to clean everything until it shines).

I have been preparing for this annual migration to my favourite ‘food time’ of the year, spring+ summer= fresh fruit and veg= alot more energy. It may sound weird but about a month ago I started my Multibionta onslaught of multivitamins in preparation for today ( I found their 30 day challenge really useful with the free daily sms reminder, take the challenge on www.30daychallenge.co.za). Finally my daughter and I went shopping with a list as long as my arm. We had so much fun browsing for anything fresh from strawberries to baby carrots and making up recipes for the week as we shopped. For tonight I put together a fantastic rye pasta dish with mushrooms, chicken , spinach, tonnes of fresh herbs and ( oh dear I have been naughty already) a dash of cream.

It was surprisingly lovely and we all enjoyed it. Even my hubby did and he doesn’t take well to rye or fresh anything. Usually he gets through detox on roasted nuts, bananas,white meat and as few greens as possible.

I wonder how many other people out there also go through a similar phase at this time of the year?If you happen to know of any good recipes that I should try to make our detox time a little more exciting ,please let me know. I love cooking and would love to hear your favourites dishes ( links welcome).

Anyway seeing as it is back to school tomorrow, I guess its time for a good night’s rest, honestly if I don’t get to sleep soon I might need a midnight snack, and if I have a snack now, its another 30 mins on the treadmill tomorrow.

Hope you all have a fantastic week that puts spring back into your step!

Share this:

Like this:

I don’t know about you but that headline sounds like a recipe for disaster, and it is! Its a morbid thought but I feel compelled to share this one.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting a lovely young lady who popped into my office to ask if she could, for free, add a 15 minute chat to our first aid courses on the topic of vehicle safety to our candidates. Of course I said yes! Her name is Michelle Van Der Merwe. She is an ex paramedic and passionate about the topic of children and vehicle safety. She may only be 28 years old now but already she has left the industry having seen too many injured and dying children on our roads. Now, instead, she flies across the country training people on the subject of safety.

I was only going to write this article after I had seen her in action, but then a few days ago, there I was, driving down the freeway on my way to pick up my daughter from a friend when out the blue I see a vehicle in the fast lane ( driving at approximately 100 km p/h) with a child loose on the back seat. Then the driver swerved off in the direction of an off ramp and as I drove past them, what I saw made my jaw drop. Here was this woman and her 3 year old jack in the box son with the candy coated crazed look on his face, that any mom would recognise as a sugar rush, jumping around in the back seat while mom ( again we were on the freeway) is doing her make up! No seat belt and eyes, very much, not on the road.

I wished at that moment with all my heart and soul that women would stop and strap her child up properly. At only 60 km an hour if you are in an accident, its the equivalent of throwing your child off a 3 story building! That is a fact. Our children , are our greatest assets and not taking the time to put on a seat belt, makes many moms and dads across our beautiful country childless every day!

One website whose products I love is www.4akid.co.za, particularly the product I have linked to here, for older children, besides a booster seat, honestly this safety harness gives me a little extra piece of mind.

Taking that all into consideration, Michelle mentioned that knowing how to react, or as her experience goes, not knowing how to is often fatal.

Here is what she had to say in short on the subject of what to do when you are in an accident:

What to do in an emergency

The common problem in emergencies is freezing up and not knowing what to do. It is always important to know who you should contact, for different types of emergencies. Always have at least one emergency contact number on your mobile phone and fridge.

Once you have contacted emergency services, notify the operator whether the patient is conscious and whether the patient is breathing or not. Try to stay calm so the operator can understand you and you may be able to follow any instructions given to you.

It is very important that you give the operator correct directions and landmarks to help them find your location. Main roads and cross roads are very important. If there is a petrol station or even convenient stores that can help them find their way, let them know.

If you have someone to assist you, one person should stay with the patient and another should wait outside for emergency services to escort them to the patient quickly. If you are alone you should never leave the patient alone.

Should you be aware of prior illnesses or of medication that the patient is taking, whilst the emergency services are busy, perhaps collect and inform all that might be needed by doctors or even the paramedics themselves. It is a great help if you inform the paramedics of patient medical history. Move all furniture out of the way, to minimize any obstructions.

Michelle van der Merwe

( Mikki-bee – We Dig Kids)

I hope that today, tomorrow and forever you remember to teach, inform and ensure your children are buckled up, properly. That you teach them why this is important.

If you know of any other vehicle safety related links, products or stories please leave us a comment.

Sometime ago Sitters4U produced an article for our clients “Maintaining a good relationship with your au pair” which is sent to each and every one of our clients. Many go through this guide and tend to have fewer issues with their au pairs. Others do not and we unfortunately cannot do much about that, except to simply assist as we can when issues arise. We have just loaded a new article to our website, it is a guide that will make your relationship with your employer and your job as an au pair a little easier, more pleasant and long lived.